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Solano County: Monday’s numbers were a fluke, surge not over yet

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Wednesday, September 29: Solano County reports 3 deaths and 270 new infections.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: 3 new COVID-related deaths today, one age 50-64 and 2 over 65.  The County’s update of deaths by race / ethnicity increased by 4 today, including 2 Asians, 1 Black and 1 White.  (Reasons for the discrepancy unknown.)  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 297.  The County reported 9 new deaths last week and 27 so far in September:

Total deaths by age and race/ethnicity:

CASES: The County reported  270 new COVID cases in just the last 2 days, 135 per day.  Last week’s average was 152 per day, so Monday’s standout report of only 16 per day over the weekend was surely incomplete or erroneous.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 460 new cases, back into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate after only 1 Solano dashboard report placing the County below that level.

(CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 537 ACTIVE cases are a significant increase over Monday’s 412, and far above our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 7.2% today, up significantly from Monday’s low of 5.6%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.1%. Today’s U.S. rate is 7.0%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 61 to 54 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability is down today, from 24% to 22%, and still the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability went down slightly today from 54% to 53%, still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

TOTAL hospitalizations  Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  The County adjusted its Hospitalizations charts today, adding 1 (or maybe 2) hospitalizations.  See below.  The race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.  All percentages remain unchanged.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

THE SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The Board’s agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  The Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  But the Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the agendized question of a county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 29:
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,422 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 14 new cases over the last 7 days, very nearly dropping (for the first time since July 14) below the CDC’s definition of SUBSTANTIAL community transmission (defined as 14-28 cases, based on Benicia population).  [Note that Solano County is at a level of HIGH transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 17 new cases today, total of 2,465 cases.
  • Fairfield added 63 new cases today, total of 11,884 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 7 new cases today, total of 568 cases.
  • Suisun City added 21 new cases today, total of 3,142 cases.
  • Vacaville added 60 new cases today, a total of 11,647 cases.
  • Vallejo added 93! new cases today, a total of 12,988 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 137 cases (population figures not available).

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources